Developing a new product can be a daunting and intimidating task. The sheer amount of choices involved, from what product you want to offer to what materials to use to create it, can be an overwhelming experience. You may have all that figured out, but how do you go from idea to distribution?
Once you have a new product successfully developed, your dreams become very real and obtainable goals. We have compiled this step-by-step guide to help you make the transition and reach those goals with ease. Let’s start from the beginning!
Step 1 – Choosing or Identifying A Product
As we live in an age where it feels like there is a technology that caterers to all needs already, it may seem impossible to find a need or situation that still requires a product. The good news is as new technologies emerge, so do new needs and desires emerge around those technologies. Sit down to identify which needs you are uniquely equipped to develop a new product for.
Step 2 – Confirm the Idea Works
Once you have come up with your product idea, do your market research. This step will take a long time, but it will help save time later in the development stages. Market research can help you find out who your true target audience is, what materials to use, what the expected price point may be, and, by extension, what a figurative profit margin may be. Using an experienced and reliable marketing and research firm can make the difference between a successful product and a warehouse of unwanted and unsellable merchandise.
Step 3 – Prototype Manufacturing
Prototype Manufacturing is both the most exciting and most stressful time of product development. It does go hand in hand with marketing research as this step involves producing a prototype, having it market tested then refining the product according to the findings. The biggest question you will need to answer before embarking on this leg of the journey is what material you want your product to be made from. To help you out, we have listed some materials below with their advantages.
Plastic and Metal Prototyping
Plastic and Metal Prototyping may be the most popular choices for product development as they are versatile, cost-effective, and offer a large variety of manufacturing processes. Plastic and metal prototyping offer CNC-machining, Rapid Tooling, Rapid injection Molding to 3D printing. Yes, that’s right, you can 3D print metal! These manufacturing possibilities offer tons of flexibility in products they can create, from small intricate figurines for a collectors market to massive industrial machines to help automatize production. Whatever your product may be, plastic and metal have compelling arguments to be used as your material.
Silicone Vacuum Casting Prototyping
The plastic prototype manufacturing via the Silicone Vacuum Casting Prototyping process is a little bit more limited as it can only cater to plastic and soft rubber products. However, it is very cost-effective when compared to CNC-machining and 3D printing, especially if you require a higher quantity of prototypes, as once the mold is created, the cost of creating more of a product drops significantly.
Due to the Silicone being transparent, it makes it easy to separate from the final product and minimizes processing failures. It is worth noting that Silicone Vacuum Cast parts can become deformed during production due to shrinking during the cooling process, as well as the fact that the parts cannot withstand heat above 60 degrees centigrade. Furthermore, the parts are not as hard or strong as CNC-machined parts.
Flexible Sheet Metal Prototyping
Lastly, there is rapid sheet metal parts prototyping, which includes cutting, forming, stamping, and welding services. The biggest draws of this process are that it is easy, fast, and offers high precision whilst minimizing waste of raw materials and cost. Rapid Sheet metal parts are uniquely suited for the fabrication of complex-shaped parts.
The products that would benefit the most from sheet metal fabrication are products that require low-volume parts with a uniform look, feel, and thickness below 6mm.
Step 4 – Refine the Product
Once you have a working prototype, it’s time to bring it back to the market research team you established earlier. Take in the feedback and refine your product to best represent the market requirements. Slowly but surely, your product’s final form will reveal itself.
Step 5 – Deploying your new Product
Your next step is to find the distribution plan that suits you. Do you want online availability for your product, or are you looking for a more traditional brick-and-mortar platform? Some form of balance between the two is probably the most advantageous, but this is going to depend on your product and how you want to offer it.
Step 6 – Customer Support and Service Centres
The last thing you want to do is set up a customer support and service center team. What exactly this department will look like and handle will largely depend on your product. If it is a product that requires intermittent services or maintenance, then this team should offer support for customers that require this service. Alternatively, if it is a product that cannot be serviced, this would be a complaint or concerns line for customers to reach out to when problems occur.
Conclusion
Offering high-quality products that enrich people’s lives or work processes is a slow burn that pays off in the long run. Ensuring your products are researched correctly and that you offer impeccable after-sale service is just as important as the products themselves. Whilst this may be stressful and challenging, it is also truly rewarding. This guide will help you navigate through the winding road from idea to distribution with ease and confidence.
